Israel wants two more Lebanese sites evacuated-UN

UNITED NATIONS, July 30 (Reuters) Israeli defense forces have asked the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to evacuate two more villages before sunset, but they are unable to do so, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

The UN mission, known as UNIFIL, ''did receive a request from the Israeli defense forces that (they wanted) the population of two villages, Ramyah and Ayta ash-Shab ... to be evacuated before sunset today,'' Annan told an emergency session of the UN Security Council meeting to discuss a deadly Israeli air strike on the Lebanese village of Qana.

''Of course UNIFIL has refused to evacuate the villages indicating that they don't have the capacity,'' Annan said. ''This is something I thought you should know to let you understand the dynamics in the region and in the south.'' Israeli UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman told the Security Council earlier that Israel had urged the residents of Qana to evacuate before the air strike.

REUTERS SKU PM2230